A couple of things are worth mentioning. I'll admit it, I am cutting them some slack on this release...but am expecting solid progress in the next one. This makes me no worse than those at the other extreme, claiming there's nothing more than new icons after 3 years.
First thing: Galling or not, I guess we have to simply disregard the final 2 years with Google. That was then, this is now. It is likely that whatever was being worked on during that time is either now irrelevant to Trimble (hence not in this release) or remains the property of Google (hence not in this release) After all, some of the team actually stayed with Google, indicative of whatever it was they were up to, they are still working on it.
That leaves just one year with Trimble, during which the team has had to turn the entire program around 180°...from an increasing narrow focus on the needs of Google Earth to shaping it up ready to shoot off in myriad directions if it is to serve as the platform across the entire range of Trimble's GIS-based software...which was the stated aim of the purchase.
It's also been asked "What is the big deal regarding the Extensions Warehouse when we already have the Plugin Store here at SCF? We don't need it."
Well, much though I love it, SCF isn't the entire SU universe. It has close on 200,000 members; SU users number in the millions (as do Trimbles...even before its purchase). WE may not need the EW, but the vast majority of SU users do...because they ain't here. I come across users on a daily basis, some of whom seem unaware of features even as basic as Follow Me; and are presumably utterly ignorant that plugins even exist.
But perhaps even more than this, the EW is indicative of a fundamental change in attitude. It's obvious that Corporate Google (as opposed to the dev team) couldn't have cared less about this kind of dedicated user base. Don't forget, they forcibly closed the old @Last forum,, upon which SCF is heavily based...despite the outcry of the users and the thinly-veiled reluctance of the @Lasters. SCF wouldn't even exist but for the disinterest of Google; it would probably still be Coen's tips and tutorials. They simply didn't care that a community arose here on SCF which resulted in plugins to hugely enhance the AEC (and general modeling) usability of SU. They didn't care, because they were only interested in its use as far as Google Earth was concerned. The simple fact that they tolerated a situation in which the major enhancements to their own baby were being made via a 3rd party website demonstrate that disinterest as clear as daylight.
Trimble appears to be a different animal. It would seem that they do actually care about the modelling aspects; and are therefore not content to let the extensions that facilitate real progress in that direction to be the sole preserve of such a 3rd party. If they are truly preparing to roll-out SU across the entire Trimble community (most of whom may never have come across it before) how else would they do that other than create the EW in order that they might download whatever extensions bend the basic program in their personal, required direction...send them all over to SCF? I don't think so.
If all this is going to work, though, we do need to see MAJOR improvements in the core program in terms of geometry handling. They need to listen. One small example...easily fixed; I've been asking for them to reinstate the face count into Entity Info ever since they removed in in V3 or V4. How hard can it be? This isn't rocket science. You have a program that is notoriously geometry-intolerant. You now have (thanks to Ruby) a wide choice of methods to achieve a particular end. Supposing for instance you need to model an organic-shaped chair seat...and there are 30 of these babies in the office you are designing. It's a matter of no small significance that you try a few different methods and are then quickly able to tell which is the most efficient, size-wise.
Having to copy all these trials into a completely different instance of SU, so you can read the face count in Model Info, rather than simply have it there...INSTANTLY...in Entity Info....LIKE YOU USED TO HAVE, isn't my idea of efficient.
Yes, I know there may be some workaround, like using Goldilocks to count the edges...but that's hardly the point.
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